Well That was unexpected
by rachel.lee3003
Summary: Lily and the Marauders are set to start their final year at Hogwarts. While a war rages on outside the castle walls, will they be able to overcome their personal battles?
1. Chapter 1

Hi everyone! Okay so I'm very excited, this is my first ever fanfiction. It was going to happen eventually. So now I've finished University I finally have the spare time. Originally I wasn't going to publish these, but I soon realised that my friends reviews are incredibly biased! So please, please, PLEASE be honest when you review, I super need the criticism. Hopefully my writing will improve as the story continues. Anyway, the Marauders era has always fascinated me and I reeeeally hope I can do the characters justice. Obviously I don't own anything other than things that I've made up in my head, it all belongs to our Queen JK. Please leave me a review if you have the time and would like me to continue with the story!

Lots of love, Rachel xxxx

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Chapter 1

"Alice!" shouted a voice from downstairs. "A letter's come for you!" Jane Evans received only the muffled, thumping resonance of her youngest daughter's record player by way of a response. She sighed heavily, drew in a breath and called again, "Alice!" startling the indignant looking Grey owl which for reasons unknown appeared quite at home on the kitchen counter next to her gleaming, white toaster.

A door opened onto the landing and new voice joined the melee of shouting and vibrations that were threatening to crack the plaster in the ceilings, "They can't hear you Mum" called the haughty voice, "…not through that racket and all the rubbish in their hideous, freakish heads."

"Petunia Jane Evans, if you use the F word to describe you sister and her friends _one more time_ I swear to God I will confiscate your car keys and retract your father's permission for you to go out with Vernon tonight!" a very audible and shocked gasp rushed down the stairs. "Now go and tell your sister's friend that a letter has come for her!" Mrs Evans retreated from the bottom of the stairs and then suddenly stopped at the entrance to the kitchen, seeming to think better of it, she turned around, retraced her steps and placed her hand on the lowest bannister and added, "Nicely!"

She heard a sigh as her eldest daughter stomped across the landing and hammered on her sister's door. There was a distinct and unwelcome scratch as the needle of the record player was lifted and the rattling bass of the music promptly stopped before Petunia irritably announced, "There's a letter for you Alice. It came with an- … well I assume it came _your way._ "

"Oh, thanks Petunia!" trilled Alice's pretty, high-pitched voice, "Cheers Tuney" added a second, though rather more stiffly, as the two girls rushed out of the room and across the landing before thundering down the stairs. As they entered the kitchen in which Mrs Evans was emptying the dishwasher, the large owl ruffled its wing feathers and stuck out its left leg to which an envelope was rather haphazardly tied, as though it had been attached in rather a hurry. The girl with the shining blonde pixie cut approached the owl and removed the letter from its winged courier. "I wonder who this is from", she said with a frown, "I don't recognise the owl or the handwriting…" a few seconds passed as Alice ripped open the envelope, her eyes narrowed as she scanned the first few lines before widening with surprise and joy as a wide smile spread across her face. "Oh brilliant! Lily, it's from Frank! You know the one in the year below who I tutor in Transfiguration? Yeah him, he passed his O.W.L with an E! He can take it as a N.E.W.T subject!"

"Oh that _is_ brilliant!" replied Lily, before her startlingly green eyes narrowed into a mischievous grin as she flipped her waves of glittering, shocking red hair behind one shoulder, "that means you two can have more secret Transfiguration lessons that go on until waaaay past the curfew… wink win- OW!" Alice had poked her in the stomach with her wand. "That was uncalled for, you monster!"

"Your lewd and unsavoury comments about my strictly academic lessons with Frank Longbottom were uncalled for!" retorted Alice, as she tried to repress her laughter whilst watching Lily rubbing the spot on her stomach where Alice had poked her.

"Lily, don't tease your friend!" said Mrs Evans with a smile and a mock frown.

"Yeah Lily, don't tease your friend!" chimed in Alice, as she shoved Lily lightly with her shoulder. They smiled at each other, and Mrs Evans surveyed the pair of them fondly from the other side of the kitchen counter.

"So when are you two going to go shopping for your new school books? Have you made any plans with Mary and Marlene? Or… what's that other girl's name? Hestia?" asked Mrs Evans, whose eyes then narrowed mischievously too, mirroring the exact facial expression Lily had employed not a minute before, "Or perhaps you should call James, Lily, I'm sure he'd love to take you out!" Mrs Evans grinned, then recoiled slightly at the venomous look her daughter had sent her, before beginning to chuckle along with Alice.

"Yeah Lils! Let's get the boys involved, it'd be an interesting if not altogether distressing experience!" piped up Alice. 'The boys', who were more often referred to as 'the Marauders' for reasons as yet unknown to the student population of Hogwarts, consisted of four boys (are they still boys?) in Lily and Alice's house and year at school; James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. However, Lily had always steadfastly and stubbornly refused to play into that egocentric vision of themselves and address them as such. Even though it appeared that Lily Evans and James Potter had finally relented and become mutually amicable towards one another – most of the time – after over 3 years of constant bickering and hexes, occasionally peppered with James' outlandish and oftentimes downright pathetic attempts to get Lily to go out with him, Lily remained habitually averse to the thought of consciously choosing to spend her free time with James Potter and Sirius Black. "Anyway, I need to speak to James about Quidditch tryouts for next year" added Alice.

"Ooh Alice, do we have to?" Lily whined, "even if James has deflated his head a bit that doesn't make him any less obnoxious, I'm just not in the mood. I mean, of course I'd love to see Remus, but unfortunately outside of the library he comes with an entourage of idiocy."

"Oh Lily, get over yourself! You know they're great fun to be around and it'll make a change from sitting in your room listening to the Doors and reading the same magazines over and over again." Alice deplored.

"Um, excuse me _Twiggy_! But I think you'll find it's _you_ who only last week made me cut your hair so that you could look like a Muggle model!" Lily retorted. "And besides, they're only fun in school because they occasionally provide a welcome distraction from schoolwork."

"I think you'll find that I am absolutely rocking this look!" Alice replied. "Come on, let's go out and have some real summer fun! It's a gorgeous day,I'll buy you an ice cream from Florean's and let you watch people admire my newly emphasised bone structure." This declaration resulted in a snicker from both Lily and Mrs Evans, as Alice had planned. She knew that a delicate combination of bribery and wit would be enough to break her friend's resolution, it was a sure fire method of getting her way with the stubborn red head that stood before her.

"Fine." said Lily, not without a touch of annoyance for effect. "But you're buying me the biggest ice cream on offer and letting me sit in the corner of Flourish and Blotts for _at least_ an hour."

"You've got yourself a deal, my gorgeous, obstinate friend!"

"Well, that's settled then!" said Mrs Evans, who appeared relieved that they had come to an agreement. "Alice you are of course welcome to stay over again when you're done shopping. Would you girls like something to eat before you go?"

"No thanks Mum, I'd better get dressed if we're going out," said Lily, then turning to Alice asked, "Are you going to go and see what the girls are doing? Marlene will probably know the boys plans."

"Yes good idea, I'll pop over to hers and she can get hold of the boys. I'll be back in a few minutes." Then, without much warning, Alice swirled on the spot and with a faint _pop_ and a small jump of surprise from Mrs Evans who was _still_ not used to this abrupt form of transportation,she had disappeared out of the kitchen.

"I'd better go and get dressed then." sighed Lily, as she began to exit the kitchen in a much more traditional manner.

"Okay darling, and maybe do something about your face." said Mrs Evans with a grin.

Lily turned sharply with a look of confused rage, "What's wrong with my face?!" she asked.

Mrs Evans' grin only got wider and she shook her head as though Lily hadn't understood a very simple joke. "You look like a child who hasn't got their way. Honestly, Lily, a day out will do you good! Please smile and at least _pretend_ that you're having fun for once. You've only one year left at school, and I'd hate for you to look back on your adolescence and wish that you had smiled more. Now off you go. You're not too old for me to tickle you to death and _make_ you smile!" This made Lily chuckle as she dashed out of her mother's reach and started to climb the stairs.

Her mother was right, as usual. Perhaps she was too serious sometimes. This summer would be a good chance to make some memories that didn't involve her telling someone off, especially considering her new position as Head Girl. Although, she had a feeling that she may have rather a lot more telling off to do this year what with Potter as Head Boy. Honestly, she thought. Potter? Why Dumbledore? Just, _why?_ Even Alice had admonished that this was particularly unexpected. Lily recalled their conversation of three days ago when they were opening their Hogwarts letters, which held the news of Lily's appointment as Head Girl, and the _surprising_ (for want of a better word) choice the Headmaster had made for Head Boy. "He's lost it," Alice had said, disbelievingly, "I truly think he's lost it. James? Really? James Potter Head Boy of Hogwarts? Do you think he's met him? Does he actually know who he is? Do you think he thinks Remus is called James Potter?"

"He must do, what with the amount of times he's been sent to his office," Lily had replied. "Do you think this is a joke? It seems like something James would do. Is there a spell that checks the authenticity of letters, or handwriting?" She appeared to be begging Alice for the answer to a question that hadn't even properly formed in her head yet. _Why?_

As it turned out, the reality of the situation was that James Potter had in fact been appointed Head Boy. Lily had owled Remus for verification. He had replied saying that it was true, that James was just as shocked as the rest of them, that Peter had fallen off his seat in surprise and that Sirius had cried. This had failed to appease Lily, and she was still getting used to the notion of having to spend more time with Potter than was, in her opinion, strictly necessary. She sighed as she sat down on her bed. 'There's nothing really to be done but make the best of a shitty situation' she told herself. 'I'm Head Girl, I have wonderful friends, it's sunny, and I can do freaking magic!' She smiled despite herself.


	2. Chapter 2

Hi everyone! Okay so I'm very excited, this is my first ever fanfic. It was going to happen eventually. So, now I've finished University I finally have the spare time. Originally I wasn't going to publish these, but I soon realised that my friends reviews are incredibly biased! So please, please, PLEASE be honest when you review, I super need the criticism. (Constructive criticism - I don't quite know if I'd be able to take any abuse just yet!) Hopefully my writing will improve as the story continues, but at the moment it's rather cheesy in my opinion. Anyway, the Marauders era has always fascinated me and I reeeeally hope I can do the characters justice. This is going to be a Jily fic (another among literally millions), with lots of Marauders shenanigans, but as it goes on hopefully I'll be able to introduce some darker themes. So yes, please be nice, please enjoy and if you like it, review! And if you don't, also review! (Also, let me know if you find any glaringly huge mistakes pleeeeease)

Lots of love, Rachel xxxx

Obviously I don't own anything other than things that I've made up in my head, it all belongs to our Queen JK. Please leave me a review if you have the time and would like me to continue with the story!

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Chapter 2

Lily was sitting absentmindedly at her dresser attempting to get her long, unwieldly tresses to behave when she heard a faint tapping at the front door come from downstairs. Assuming it was probably the post-man or another Jehovah's Witness trying to enlighten unsuspecting suburban families, she ignored it and continued trying to untangle the nest that had planted itself upon her head. "Bloody- … hair…" she muttered to herself and wincing as she accidentally pulled too firmly on her hairbrush, tugging quite a few strands of scarlet along with it.

Lily vaguely noticed the sound of her mother striding down the hall and opening the front door as she stood up, having abandoned the fight with her hairbrush, and turned to her wardrobe. Whilst weighing up the advantages of comfort over style, she heard her mother, who had been conversing with the unknown visitor shout up the stairs for what felt like the hundredth time that day. "Lily!" she called, with a strange lilt to her voice that Lily knew she reserved for moments during which she could embarrass her daughters. "Oh no." Lily thought.

"There's a boy at the door, he says he wants to see you!" Lily turned wildly to face the direction from which her mother's taunting, sing-song voice had come. A boy? She wracked her brains, trying to recall the names and faces of the boys that she knew, and to decide which of them would turn up at her front-door, the front-door of her Muggle house on her Muggle street, unannounced. It couldn't be Sev could it? No, Mum knew Severus, and Lily thought it unlikely that he'd turn up considering the results of their most recent interactions. She winced at the thought, then shook her head, trying to rid herself of those painful memories, which still stung after so many months. She looked around her room, still in shock, then it dawned on her after spotting her scarlet and gold school scarf that was hanging halfway out of the trunk at the foot of her bed. Potter. He had probably turned up to terrorise her with suggestive comments about long nights spent together in the Head Boy and Girl's office at Hogwarts. That was definitely the sort of thing he would do. Potter would definitely turn up at her house without warning, just to catch Lily off-guard and maybe raid her room for embarrassing things from her childhood with which he could blackmail and tease her. He was absolutely incorrigible that way.

Well, she wouldn't have it. She moved towards the door, with the idea that she would simply close it and pretend that nothing was happening. Pretend that James Potter wasn't at her front door, pretend that he wasn't smiling at her mother in what he imagined was an irresistibly charming way and imagine that nothing had interrupted her internal monologue of trying to justify wearing an old, grey t-shirt that she had owned since she was 12 on a shopping trip.

All of these thoughts swirled around her head before her mother called up the stairs again, her voice having lost its teasing tone, "Lily Evans I hope you are not ignoring me! Get down these stairs right now, this poor young man looks so terribly awkward on our doorstep!"

Lily paused, thinking. Awkward? She thought back, sieving through 6 years' worth of memories of James Potter, and decided that she was right, she had never seen nor even heard of James Potter looking awkward. His self-assuredness had never allowed it. So who was downstairs, standing in the hall with her Mum? Curiosity getting the better of her, she opened her door and shouted down the stairs, "Just give me a second, Mum!" then flew back into her room, picked up the first garment she could find and threw it over her head and shoulders and yanking it down before teaming it with a pair of denim shorts and some flip-flops. She briefly glanced in the mirror, inspecting her mass of tangled hair, and with a withering sigh she rushed out of the door, pulling it up into a messy bun on the top of her head as she fumbled down the stairs towards her mother and Mystery Door Boy.

Lily reached the bottom of the stairs and swung around the bannister, straight into her Mum, who righted herself with a faint mutter, then giggled and whispered into Lily's ear, "Goodness, he's very _rugged_ isn't he?!" Mortified, Lily stepped around her mother to see who was there, then smiled widely and released rather a lot of tension in her shoulders that she hadn't noticed was there.

To her immense surprise, and apparent pleasure, she found Remus Lupin smiling shyly at her from just inside the door, his hands in his pockets and his shoulders unassumingly hunched over either in exhaustion or embarrassment. Lily was inclined to think it was the latter; her mother's whispers had never been very discreet and nor were they particularly quiet. She had been right though, while attractive and lean, Remus was looking particularly weathered and Lily noticed a few new scars had been added to his already extensive collection. She frowned at them, observing a particularly jagged one that was poking out the top of his shirt and curving around his neck. Before realising that she hadn't even said "hello" due to her ogling him with surprise, Remus raised his eyebrows as he looked at Lily with a genuine and knowing smile.

"Surprised to see me?" he asked quietly with a toothy grin.

Lily jumped as she was awoken from her dazed reverie and replied, beaming at him, "Remus! Yes. Very! Very surprised!" she launched herself forwards and pulled the boy (who was significantly taller than she) into a warm and natural hug. As she pulled back, her face had been replaced with its recent expression of curiosity, she added, "I, er… don't want to be rude Remus, but what _are_ you doing here? How do you even know where I live?"

"Oh right, yeah! Alice told me. She arrived at James' and found us all outside. She said you were waiting for her to come back here before going out. I offered to come and collect you because she entered into quite a heated argument with Sirius about who is the best beater on our Quidditch team."

"Ahhh, I see." Lily nodded, knowingly. Neither Alice nor Sirius had ever been known to back down from an argument, much less an argument that concerned Quidditch. Who was better at Quidditch, who had played Quidditch the longest, who had been to more Quidditch games. Frankly it was exhausting.

Remus nodded back at Lily, "So yeah, obviously, um… James offered to come and get you but I put my foot down. I thought the likelihood of him persuading you to apparate off into the sunset with him was slim, and we all wanted to get you over to his house, so I offered. We're having a bit of a get together."

Lily began to walk down the hall towards the living room door, she motioned for Remus to follow, as he made to move he halted and looked down at his shoes, which were rather scuffed up and muddy after spending the morning outside. He pulled them off and followed Lily into the lounge as she said, "But what was Alice doing at James'?" she asked, puzzlement spreading once more across her face. "She had gone to Marlene's to get her to round you all up to go to Diagon Alley." They sat down next to each other on the ancient, bottle green sofa that the Evans' had had since Lily was a baby. "I'm confused" Lily confessed, her eyebrows furrowed.

Remus let out a soft chuckle before he explained, "She went to Marlene's but she and Mary had already left for James' house. Marlene's mum told Alice where they were so Alice apparated over to us. She found us playing Quidditch and decided to pick an argument with Sirius. That's how I ended up next to your fine self on your sofa, with the intention of dragging you back with me so that I can have at least one intelligent conversation today!"

Lily smiled at her friend. She adored Remus, she had ever since their Second Year at Hogwarts when he had forced a Venomous Tentacula to let go of her hair in Herbology. He'd taken her up to the Hospital Wing to get the cuts on her face and hand mended, and they had been close friends ever since. Remus was the only sensible one out of his close group of friends and he was the Gryffindor prefect with Lily. He was great fun, very kind and absolutely hilarious but he more or less always knew when to draw the line. He was also the only one who had been able to persuade James and Sirius _not_ to transfigure all of the candles that floated above the Slytherin table in the Great Hall into a swarm of Killer Bees.

"Well okay then. As long as you don't make me get on a broomstick we won't have a problem," said Lily. Remus looked relieved. He then started to look around her sitting room, his eyes resting on a framed picture of Lily and Petunia in matching dungarees from when they were young. Lily's eyes followed Remus' and rested on the same photo. Remus noticed that they were sad and shining.

"We used to be best friends," Lily told Remus in a small, melancholic voice. He nodded, not able to think of anything else to do or say, so he settled for an awkward pat on her shoulder. She smiled at him and squeezed his hand and with a small sniff she said, "Oh well, now I have you Remus! We must get some matching, stripy dungarees to seal the deal!"

Remus nodded his head and chuckled, "You'd be surprised how well they suit me," Lily giggled at the thought.

"Speaking of clothing, I should probably put on something more suitable if I'm going to the Potters' house," she frowned at that, "also Alice would kill me if I went outside in this pyjama top. I've had it for years."

"Well I think it's charming, but if you want to dress up for James, be my guest!" he replied with a wink and a lopsided, knowing grin.

"Oh shut it, Lupin!" Lily shot at him, smacking his shoulder. "Honestly, everyone needs to stop this nonsense about me and James, it's getting so boring."

"Indeed," he muttered.

Lily glowered at him and stood up. "Well, quite frankly I can't be bothered to change so I'll just go and put some make up on and grab my bag. I'll be down in two minutes, Remus."

"Okay I'll just wait here and admire your fireplace. My Mum's always wanted an electric one but Dad needs a proper one for Flooing to work."

"Oh it was such a nuisance before I passed my apparition test," replied Lily from the doorway to the hall. "I was basically stranded here with only Tuney and Sever-… well. Nobody that fun for company anyway." Remus looked at Lily curiously.

"Anyway, be right back!" Lily could feel the heat from her face radiating as she ran up the stairs, two steps at a time.

"Idiot…" she muttered to herself, as she sat down once more at her dresser and began to put on some mascara and a bit of eyeliner. 'Curse these stupid see-through eyelashes,' she thought to herself. How had Alice managed to get long, silky brown ones even though she was blonde? This was incredibly unfair, in Lily's opinion.

When she had finished she grabbed her hand bag, checking that she had everything she needed. Keys, purse, wand. Sorted.

She tumbled downstairs and put her head around the corner of the living room door, preparing to tell Remus she was ready to go, but found it empty.

"Remus!" she shouted into the house once back in the hall.

"He's here with me!" her mother called back. Lily rushed down the hall towards the kitchen, with panic all over her face. Her mother could talk the ears off anything. Not to mention she was extremely embarrassing and told awful jokes that she forgot the punch lines to. "I can't believe you didn't offer your guest a drink Lily, I raised you better than this!" she said as Lily entered.

"I was only gone for two minutes and we're leaving now, Mum"

Her mother ignored these words and nodded towards the boy who was sitting at the kitchen counter, "Remus here was just telling me about how you two became friends, Lily! About how he heroically rescued you from a vicious, man eating plant! You never told me you nearly died because of a… What was it called again, Remus dear?"

"Venomous Tentacula. And I didn't nearly die!" Lily interrupted, giving him the evils. Remus nodded, although he was struggling to speak due to his attempts to repress his laughter and Lily's mother was looking between the two of them with a bemused expression.

"Venomous Tentacula, eh? Well that sounds rather exciting, I'd love to get some exotic things for the garden. Although maybe we should steer clear of venomous ones that could kill the cat…"

"Okay Mum, maybe I'll get you a Flutterby Bush for your birthday." Lily glanced at Remus again, who was trying to regain his breath. "But we have to go, the others will be waiting," Lily smiled at Remus and added "And one of us may have to pull Alice off of Sirius."

"Goodness!" Mrs Evans exclaimed. Lily looked at her in horror, realising her mistake too late. She began to stutter something about 'Quidditch' and 'never backs down from an argument' before her mother asked "I thought it was Marlene who was snogging Sirius?"

"Mum!" Lily shouted, looking horrified. Remus started to laugh out-right at this. "Never, ever say the word "snogging" in my presence again! Nobody says it anymore and you've got the wrong end of the stick. Remus and I are leaving now, before you do anything else to utterly ruin my social life!"

Mrs Evans chuckled, "You're so over-dramatic, Lily. But yes, you wouldn't want to be late for James! Don't be back too late." Lily gave her mother a murderous stare at the mention of the _other_ You-Know-Who. This set Remus off into another peal of giggles, "Aren't you going to change?" she added, as she looked her daughter up and down.

"No I am not. I am not trying to impress anyone. Remus, let's go before your head falls off from laughing at my mother's terrible jokes," Lily's face felt so red now that she was sure everybody would notice.

"Have fun, darling! You too, Remus. It was lovely to meet you. Make sure she's back at a reasonable time or I might just have to tell Lily's father that a boy came over to whisk his youngest daughter away!" Remus' laughter suddenly stopped after this, his face was worried and his eyes were wide with more than a little fear when he nodded at Mrs Evans wordlessly.

"Mother! Leave him alone!" Lily exclaimed. She turned to Remus, "She's joking. A poor attempt, I know. But you wouldn't hurt a fly would you?" she smiled as she nudged him with her shoulder and a little of the worry left his face. "Let's go before she tries to make another attempt at humour. Bye, Mum"

"Bye Mrs Evans it was lovely to meet you! Thanks for the drink!" Remus added over his shoulder as he followed Lily.

"Don't forget the conversation we had earlier, Lily! I mean it!" Mrs Evans called as Lily led Remus into the back garden towards her regular apparition spot which was under the cover of a large oak tree which held the ruins of her and Petunia's ancient tree house.

"Yes, Mum! See you later!" Lily looked at Remus with a small smile. "Sorry about her. It's not often there are boys here. Apart from my sister's awful boyfriend, who wouldn't know a joke if it bit him on the arse."

Remus chuckled appreciatively. "I liked her jokes! She's really nice, and very curious about James and Sirius." Lily rolled her eyes at this while Remus continued with another chuckle, "She wanted to know what could have possessed a new mother to name her child "Sirius"!"

Lily smiled, she had also always wondered this but didn't say so. "Yeah well, wizards do have some odd names… _Remus_ for example!"

"Fair point!" he admonished with a smile. "Okay, would you like to do side-along or shall I just tell you the sort of general direction and hope you don't splinch yourself?"

"Hmmm, hard one!" replied Lily with an expression of mock concentration. "Just take me there, Remus."

"Alrighty then, hold on tight!"

Lily reached out and held on to Remus' arm. She noted that even through the clothing of his jumper it felt lean and toned.

"Well someone's been pumping iron!" Lily snickered.

Remus smiled, "Shut it, Evans. Prongs would never forgive me if I inadvertently made you fall in love with me." He laughed at her expression as they both turned on the spot and disappeared with a faint _pop_.


End file.
